Credit Karma Credit Monitoring Review

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Credit Karma made waves when it started offering free credit scores online. At first, many people, including me, were worried that the whole thing was just a big Credit Karma scam. However, after doing some research into whether Credit Karma is legit and even doing an in-depth CreditKarma.com review, I realized that while there may be some concerns over Credit Karma’s accuracy, there is nothing underhanded about the online financial service. Credit Karma also offers a free online tax filing service. You can find Credit Karma tax reviews here. Credit Monitoring Scam This year, Credit Karma is offering its registered users something new. They are expanding beyond their flagship service of offering to show users a free credit score and moving into offering free credit report monitoring. One of the biggest financial scams in America comes courtesy of the credit reporting industry and the three major credit reporting bureaus. In class Mafia-style extortion, a tough looking guy visits a local business. He says that bad things might happen to his business. In order to be safe, he should pay for “protection.” Of course, the only protection the business needs is from the crooks offering the protection. Credit reports and credit …

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Achieving Financial Independence Is About More Than Money

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financial independence freedom

Financial independence is a topic that has gained increasing attention in recent years. The ability to live life on your own terms, free from the constraints of financial stress and dependence on others, is something that many people strive for. Add that to an internet full of people living the financially independent dream, or at least pretending to, and the idea that being born rich isn’t the only path to financial independence and you have a sizable movement. But achieving financial independence is not just about having money, it’s about having the freedom to live life on your terms. How To Achieve Financial Independence Tl:dr – Live below your means. Invest the difference. Keep doing it until you are financially independent. The first step in achieving financial independence is to set clear financial goals. This means identifying what you want to achieve financially and creating a plan to get there. Setting financial goals is essential because it gives you something to work towards and helps you stay focused and motivated, not what everyone else is trying to accomplish. One key goal to consider when working towards financial independence is creating an emergency fund. An emergency fund is a savings account …

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When Can I File Colorado Income Taxes

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Colorado income taxes delay

Colorado Delays Acceptance of 2022 Online Taxes A majority of Coloradoans file their income taxes for free, or via a paid tax program like TurboTax, using Colorado’s online tax forms. Once you know how to file Colorado income tax, the rest is easy. The Colorado Department of Revenue will not accept income tax returns until January 2023. Filing Colorado Income Taxes Online Several laws passed during the 2022 legislative session changed numbers, percentages, forms, and eligibility for various tax deductions, tax credits, and tax-advanced contributions. The one-month delay won’t affect most Colorado income taxpayers. Colorado taxes require completion of Federal income taxes to generate most of the inputs needed for Colorado income taxes. Both state and federal law give employers, and others, until January 31 to generate and send most required tax forms. Thus, the change will only affect taxpayers with simplified taxes whose only employers and contractors created and sent the various W2, 1099, and K-1 forms. Use the Colorado Department of Revenue’s tax updates site to keep up with any new changes.

Get Capital One Rewards Catalog 2023 and 2024

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capital-one-rewards-catalog

If you have a Capital One Rewards card in 2024, that is not a cash back credit card, then chances are you are earning points, or miles, with everything you buy. The Capital One Rewards catalog is one way you can use your miles. The base program advertised on television offers 2 miles on everything you buy in commercials starring Jennifer Garner. But Capital One No Hassle Miles are earned on numerous types of Capital One rewards cards. The program follows the basics that all other miles-based credit card rewards programs use. For each dollar you spend on the credit card, you earn a certain number of miles or points. Different cards have different earning rates. Some cards earn 1.25 miles per dollar, or 2 miles per dollar for purchases at certain places like gas stations or grocery stores. The flagship Venture rewards credit card earns 2 miles everywhere. Miles can be redeemed for free airline tickets, free hotel rooms and other free travel services using the Capital One reward points catalog. The points catalog is shared across all the type of Capital One credit cards. 2023 and 2024 Capital One Rewards Catalog Capital One saves money by not mailing a …

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Help Your Child Build Credit with This One Trick

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Help Your Child Build Credit with This One Trick 1

Building credit is an important task for financially savvy adults. Unfortunately for most people when they turn 18, they start out with zero credit. Even worse, it can take years to build up good credit. Fortunately, you can help your child build credit with this one trick. Why Start Building Credit Early Although most of your credit score comes from other factors like how good your payment history is, one important factor in your credit is how old your credit history is. This age of credit factor starts when information starts getting put on your credit report. So, all other things being equal, an 18-year-old who signed up for their first credit card or loan last month will have much lower credit than an 18-year-old with the exact same credit card or loan, but with an account that is two or three years old. How To Build Credit for Your Child Getting a loan for a 13-year-old is probably irresponsible. However, there is a trick to build your child’s credit fast and easy. Add your child as an “authorized user” on one of your credit cards. The older the account, the better. Then, be 100% sure to make payments every …

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Tricks to Save Money On Taxes

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save money on taxes tips

If you have fairly simple taxes, that is ones that do not include several complicated schedules or worksheets that have to be filed, then you might not want to pay for TurboTax or TaxCut or other tax preparation software.  But you still don’t really want to go it alone without some sort of double-check. Let’s jump right in with some tricks to save money on taxes. TurboTax For Free TurboTax offers a marketing gimmick where they allow you to do your taxes on the online version of TurboTax for free.  You only have to pay when you print or e-file your return.  But who says you have to print anything? When you have finished inputting all of your information, and TurboTax has finished crunching all of the numbers, switch to the form view where you actually are looking at an electronic version of the tax form.  Copy the numbers down onto Form 1040 that you printed off of the IRS website, and voila.  Your taxes are done, and all for free! Obviously, if you have to generate a bunch of extra paperwork or IRS Schedules, this isn’t the method for you.  But keep in mind that many of the worksheets …

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How Long To Keep Tax Returns

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how long keep tax return records

Tax Day is today. Hope you are ready! If you have already filed, there is one more piece of tax business you can attend to before you run off into your summer. Time to shred some old tax returns and documents. IRS Rule For How Long to Keep Taxes The general rule for how long you have to keep your tax returns and other tax records is three years. HOWEVER, this is the IRS we are talking about, so there are some exceptions, and sub-rules to the general rule. First, you need to know when to count from. The 3-year rule counts three years from the date you FILED them. So, if you filed early, you don’t technically have to wait until April 15 (I always do. Better safe than sorry.) On the other hand, if you filed late, whether with an extension or not, you need to keep them for three years from that date. Also, the IRS says you should keep your returns for two years after you paid the tax, so if you ended up paying late, or on some sort of payment plan, be sure to keep them for two years after that tax bill has been …

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Is Amazon Stride Flex Worth It

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amazon flex insurance

Health Insurance through Amazon Stride Flex sounds tempting, but is Amazon’s Flex health insurance worth it? What Is Stride Amazon Flex Health Insurance? Amazon contracts with drivers from several different platforms. The most public way to drive for Amazon is via the company’s Amazon Flex program. Amazon Flex drivers select a block of time they want to work making deliveries for Amazon. Since drivers get to choose the time, manner, and place of their paid efforts, all Flex drivers are independent contractors, meaning they do not get access to Amazon’s health plan. Amazon Flex health insurance is offered through an Amazon corporate partner called Stride. How Can Amazon Offer Health Insurance to Its Flex Drivers? The Stride Amazon Flex health insurance for drivers is really an interface to your state’s health insurance website, or the federal Marketplace for health plans. Republicans have made it their mission to tear down and reduce these so-called Obamacare health insurance plans, so don’t get too excited. The Stride by Amazon Flex platform asks the same questions as any of the healthcare marketplaces. You name, your age, what doctors you want to use, what prescriptions you take and want coverage for, and what conditions you …

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Dividend Kings 2023

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dividend king investing

A somewhat overused concept, in my humble opinion, albeit a strong investing strategy is the Dividend Kings as derived from Dividend Aristocrats. The list of Dividend Aristocrats is made of S&P 500 companies that have increased their dividends for 25 consecutive years. The list of Dividend Kings is composed of stocks that have increased their dividends for 50 consecutive years. Whether or not Dividend Kings must be part of the S&P500 is up for debate. What is the point of Dividend Kings? Well, you see sonny, back in my day… No seriously, I just celebrated my 50th birthday. I was making investments when discount brokers were a new thing. Imagine the concept of not charging a huge commission on each trade. The horror! When I first started investing, there was no such thing as investing online, there was no such thing as the internet bubble, and there was certainly no such thing as buying fractional shares. What is my point? Well, back when those first three things were ramping up, there were people all over the internet telling you that you were a fool to listen to experts and that you should listen to them. As proof, they had portfolios …

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How To Invest in Gold Bullion

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How To Invest in Gold Bullion 2

You want to know how to invest in gold bullion. Investing in gold directly can be challenging, but if you understand the system, it is simple enough to buy gold you can hold in your hands. Invest In Gold Mutual Funds Beware mutual funds and indexes that have gold in their name but that mostly invest in companies that have something to do with gold instead of gold itself. A good option that actually invests in gold is SPDR Gold MiniShares (GLDM). How To Buy Physical Gold Bars Believe it or not, you can directly invest in real gold that you can hold in your own hands. If you are thinking of those big gold bricks you see in movies, that probably isn’t going to happen. Those bricks are 400 ounces. With gold prices in the $1700 per ounce range, which works out to $680,000. If you are looking to put that much money to work, contact me directly, or work with your existing financial professional. The cost of gold bars varies depending on the current market price of gold and the size and purity of the bars. As of 2021, the price of gold was around $1,800 per ounce, …

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